defrock

From French défroquer, from dé- + froc. By surface analysis, de- +‎ frock.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /diːˈfɹɒk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /diˈfɹɑk/
• Rhymes: -ɒk
• Hyphenation: de‧frock

defrock (third-person singular simple present defrocks, present participle defrocking, simple past and past participle defrocked)

1. (literally) To divest of a frock.
2. (figuratively) To formally remove the rights and authority of a member of the clergy.

   The defrocked priest may no longer perform rites.

   • 2022 December 18, AP, “Anti-abortion US priest Frank Pavone defrocked by Vatican”, in The Guardian‎:

     The Vatican has defrocked the anti-abortion US priest Frank Pavone for what it said were “blasphemous communications on social media” as well as “persistent disobedience” of his bishop.

3. (by extension) To formally remove the rights and authority of someone, e.g. a government official or a medical practitioner.
   • 2012 March 19, David Denby, “Everybody Comes to Rick’s: “Casablanca” on the Big Screen”, in The New Yorker‎:

     There are refugees and black marketers, defrocked bankers and resistance fighters, gamblers, floozies, French colonial policemen, American and Spanish entertainers, and, eventually, Nazi officers (who in reality never set foot in Casablanca).

• disfrock
• unfrock

• frocked